It is well known in the art that during transportation, cargo shipping containers are normally supported on, and connected to, generally flat bottom-type transportation vehicles. Such vehicles include railway-type flat cars, flat-bed trucks as well as other lading-type transportation vehicles such as ocean going vessels. In general, the equipment that has normally been used in this application as supporting members for such shipping containers consist of pedestal supports which are manually adjustable along the length of the deck or flat bed portion of the particular transportation vehicle being used. The manual adjustment required will normally depend upon the overall length of the shipping container to be supported.
It is also well known in the art that such cargo shipping containers can be of various length and shapes. Particularly if the shipping containers are to be secured within ocean-going vessels, they may require a special shape so that a large number of such containers can be easily fitted within the hold of the ship. When carrying such cargo shipping containers on land vehicles, however, only one or two such containers can be carried on a single vehicle. In the case of railway cars, it is common practice to stack such containers two-high per railway car for transportation. In the railway industry, special cars are specifically designed and built for the sole purpose of carrying cargo shipping containers.
In accordance with conventional practice, cargo shipping containers are normally fabricated to be closeable, rectangular containers with a locking mechanism built into flat-bottom under-surface at each corner. The locking mechanism usually comprises a cast block having an opening through the under-surface into which a portion of the support pedestal is insertable and locked in place with a locking mechanism incorporated within the casting. Because the locking mechanism used to secure these shipping containers to such support pedestals are supplied by different manufacturers, any one given type of support pedestal will not normally work with each style of locking mechanism that is presently in commercial use in the transportation industry. In addition, while such support pedestals are normally positioned to support the four corners of the shipping container, there are conditions where additional support will be desired, if not required, such as the need to provide support intermediate the ends as well as the corners. As examples of pedestal-type cargo shipping container locking devices, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,430,032, 4,597,701 and 4,844,672.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,032 teaches a cargo shipping container retaining apparatus that is specifically designed for a transporting vehicle having a flat deck. This particular retaining apparatus requires that the cargo shipping container have a corner fitting disposed on at least each of the four corner thereof, and positioned in substantially the same horizontal plane. As disclosed in the reference patent, the corner fittings include a slot-like portion designed to receive a latch lever. The latch lever is used for locking the shipping container to the deck of the transportation vehicle. In order to releasably support each corner of the cargo shipping container, a separate support pedestal must be provided, each of which includes a frame member having a base portion, a platform portion spaced above the base portion and end and side wall portions which extend vertically from the platform portion and conform to a corner fitting as the shipping container is lowered onto the platform portion. In this arrangement, at least one of the side wall portions includes a slot-like portion formed therein, extending in a vertical direction along such as least one side wall portion. The latch lever extends along the slot-like portion between parallel walls which form such slot-like portion. The latch lever is provided with a variable pivot, enabling the latch lever to be pivoted between the parallel walls and moved into the slot-like portion to the extent necessary to effect latching engagement with the associated corner fitting on the cargo shipping container. The lower end portion of the latch lever is intended to extend a substantial distance beneath the platform. This particular apparatus also includes a compression spring that engages the lower end portion of the latch lever and biases the latch lever sufficient to cause the corner fitting on the cargo shipping container to engage a strike surface as it is lowered onto the platform. The compression spring includes a movable seat member disposed adjacent the lower end of the latch lever, and a saddle member on the end that is opposite the movable seat member, and positioned for bearing engagement with the lower end portion of the latch lever. The movable seat member includes a leg portion that extends along the compression spring for at least a portion of its length, and a lock bar member engagable with the leg portion and reacts against the movable seat member and an adjacent wall defining a slot. In this manner, compression of the spring is prevented to thereby securely lock the latch lever from being accidentally moved to an undesired release position during transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,701 teaches another fastener device for engaging and locking a corner casting of a cargo shipping container to a flat support of a transport vehicle. As taught therein, the corner casting is hollow and includes a planar surface intended to abut and be parallel to the flat support of the transport vehicle. This fastener device includes a hook member which is adapted to penetrate an aperture defined through such planar surface, and a pivot means for coupling the hook member to the flat support on the transport vehicle. The pivot means is positioned for movement parallel to the planar surface relative to the flat support. This arrangement enables movement of the hook member from a first position located outside the corner casting disposed on the cargo shipping container, to a second position of penetration of such corner casting thereby locking a wall of the corner casting between the hook member and the flat support. The pivot means maintains a constant spacial interval from the pivot point to the planar surface during all positions of penetration of the hook member into the aperture. As a result, such moveable pivot means allows the point of engagement of such hook member penetrating into the aperture to be varied in a manner to best match the position and orientation of the aperture without towards and away movement of the pivot point from the planar surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,672 teaches a wide body-type cargo shipping container that is attached for engagement with a certain wide body shipping container support mechanism disposed on various types of transport vehicles. This is accomplished by the provision of a plurality of adapters that are movably mounted with respect to a supporting point on the bottom portion of the wide body shipping container. Each of the adapters is movable to a position beneath the wide body shipping container supporting point and is engagable therewith in a manner which defines a new supporting structure. Such new supporting structure is spaced laterally inward from the outermost surface of such wide body shipping container so as to permit coupling of such shipping container to a standard width container support mechanism.